Avaya Inc., a global leader in enterprise communications solutions, today announced a deal estimated at close to $2 million with France`s central bank, Banque de France. The win involves a series of Avaya data network solutions and represents yet another move by Avaya in the enterprise data space.
"This is a positive proof that Avaya is able to bring its voice communications expertise to the data market and converge voice and data onto a single, highly reliable network " said Patrick Lelorieux, Avaya`s recently named president of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). "As a Frenchman, I am proud to witness this significant deal with Banque de France."
With the simplified network administration and the sheer cost saving associated with converging voice and data networks, there is an increasing amount of interest across EMEA enterprises in communications solutions which can effectively turn two separate networks into one.
The deployment of the new network, scheduled to begin in spring 2001, will initially concentrate on migrating Banque de France`s headquarters based in Paris. The building has over 6000 connection points which will be tied together through an intrasite Gigabit Ethernet backbone. Implementation is expected to take 12 months and will include Cajun P880 routers which will interface with the Gigabit Ethernet backbone, multiservice PSAX and Cajun P330 switches. All this will be managed and monitored using Avaya`s CajunView administration suite.
"With the solution proposed by Avaya, we will be able to concentrate on information flows towards our data processing centres in a network-centric architecture and to use the same network for both voice and data," said Alain Nicolle, Deputy Secretary General of Banque de France. "We needed scalable solutions which simplify our network architecture and increase both the standardisation and the security of the information being passed through various IT environments across various Banque de France sites."
Avaya is already a global leader in voice messaging and communications, but with its introduction of its Enterprise Class IP Solutions (ECLIPS) portfolio and recent agreement to acquire VPN technology maker VPNet, Avaya is showing that it can bring the same levels of reliability, security and functionality it brings to the voice market to IP communications, virtual private networks (VPNs) and other facets of the data market. The global VPN market is expected to grow by a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 40 percent to $4.3 billion from 1999 through 2003, according to industry sources. Converged voice/data networks allow the enterprise to integrate current as well as future voice and data communications applications. In addition, converged networks simplify the evolution and use of new integrated services such as multimedia collaboration and the integration of voice services with Web-based applications.
"This deal has Avaya challenging a data market which has been thus far dominated by other players. This is the first time Banque de France has dealt with Avaya and so this is a very important new customer for us," said Laurent Bourgninaud, Avaya`s managing director for France.
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Avaya
Avaya, headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., USA, is a leading provider of communications systems for enterprises, including businesses, government agencies and other organisations. Avaya offers converged voice and data, customer relationship management, messaging, voice multi-service networking and structured cabling products and services. Avaya is a worldwide leader in sales of messaging and structured cabling systems and a U.S. leader in sales of enterprise voice communications and call centre systems. Avaya intends to use its leadership positions in enterprise communications systems and software, its broad portfolio of products and services, and strategic alliances with other technology and consulting services leaders to offer its customers comprehensive eBusiness solutions. For more information about Avaya, visit its Web site at http://www.avaya.com.